Game Objective

In Terraforming Mars: Turnaround, the Martian civilization grows amid natural disasters and political disputes. Players must navigate social movements and high-level politics in the Terraforming Committee, where corporations and lobbyists fight for influence to decide which party will lead the next generation and who will receive government bonuses.

Setup

Setup for this expansion occurs after step 2 of the normal rules:

1. Boards: Place the Terraforming Committee and the Global Events Board next to the main board. If using the Tharsis board, replace the Terraformer marker with the new Shield (which now requires 26 IT).
2. Delegates: Each player takes their 7 delegates. One is placed in the Nomination space and the rest go to the Delegate Reserve. Place a neutral delegate (gray) in the President Seat and the rest in the Neutral Reserve.
3. Global Events:
   • Shuffle the Global Events cards and form a draw deck.
   • Reveal the first card and place it in the Next Global Event space. Place a neutral delegate as the Party Leader in the party indicated in the top left corner of the card. This is the Majority Party; place the majority marker in that party’s delegate area.
   • Reveal the second card (Far Global Event) and place a neutral delegate as the Party Leader in the party indicated in the top left corner. If it’s the same party as the previous, place the delegate in that party’s delegate area.
4. Policies: Place the 6 Policies in a stack in the Terraforming Committee, with the Greens policy on top. They start as the ruling party and their policy will be active in the next action phase.
5. Project Cards: Shuffle the 16 new Turnaround project cards with the other project cards.

Game Flow

The game follows the normal structure, with the addition of the Solar Phase after each generation’s production phase. The order of the Solar Phase is:

1. End-of-Game Check: If temperature, oxygen, and oceans are at maximum, the game ends immediately.
2. World Government Terraforming: (If playing with Venus Next) The starting player increases an unmaxed parameter or places an ocean (without receiving IT or bonuses).
3. Colonial Production: (If playing with Colonies) Return of fleets and advance of the white marker on the colony tracks.
4. Turnaround:
   • IT Review: All players lose 1 IT.
   • Global Event: Execute the effects of the Current Global Event, considering player influence.
   • New Government:
     • The Majority Party becomes the ruling party and the Policy changes.
     • The Government Bonus is applied to all players.
     • The former President and non‑leader delegates of the Majority Party return to the reserve.
     • The Party Leader of the Majority Party becomes the new President and receives 1 IT.
     • The majority marker moves to the new Majority Party (in case of a tie, follow clockwise from the former).
     • The Nomination Area is filled (each player receives 1 delegate from the reserve).
   • Time Shift: The Next Global Event card becomes the Current Global Event (adding a neutral delegate to the central right side). The Far Global Event card becomes the Next Global Event. A new card is revealed from the deck as the new Far Global Event (adding a neutral delegate to the top left corner).

Actions and How to Play

Nomination Action

This is not a standard project and can be taken any number of times per generation. The player moves one of their delegates to the Party Delegate Area of the chosen party. The cost is:

• Free if the delegate is in the Nomination Area.
• 5 M$ if the delegate is in the Delegate Reserve.

Committee Dynamics

• Party Leader: The first delegate placed in a party becomes the Party Leader. If another player (or the neutral) later has more delegates in that party, they take the lead.
• President: The Party Leader of the Majority Party becomes the President when the party takes government, gaining 1 IT.
• Majority Party: The party with the most delegates. It will be the next ruling party.
• Project Card Requirements: Some cards require a specific party to be the ruling party OR for the player to have at least 2 delegates in that party.

Influence

Influence modifies the count of Global Events (which have a maximum of 5). A player can have 0 to 3 influences based on:

• Being the President (1 influence).
• Being the Party Leader of the Majority Party (1 influence).
• Having 1 or more delegates (excluding the Leader) in the dominant party (1 influence).

End of Game and Scoring

End Trigger: The game ends when temperature, oxygen, and oceans reach their maximum values. When this occurs, the Turnaround is not performed.

Final Score: After converting plants and the normal point count, apply the final step of the expansion: all Party Leaders and the President grant 1 VP each to their respective players.

Tips for Winning

• Influence Management: Try to control the leadership of the Majority Party or the Presidency to manipulate the influence count, which can mitigate losses or increase gains during Global Events.
• Strategic Positioning: Use the Nomination action to ensure you have at least 2 delegates in parties whose Policies are useful for your project cards, allowing you to use them even if that party is not ruling.